


the universe in a cup of tea

by oswinry



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-06 19:45:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17351450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oswinry/pseuds/oswinry
Summary: It's a big universe, but neither Bill nor the Doctor can stay away from explosions.





	the universe in a cup of tea

Her tea is cold and the cat hasn’t been scratched since Heather left for work six hours ago, but forty-seven student papers are graded and ready to be sent back to the despairing arms of their creators. She checks them over one more time and takes a deep breath. “Sending in three…two…one…and done!” Bill slams the button with more force than a casual observer might think warranted, then startles out of her chair as a wispy figure materializes behind her.

“Heather! Thought you had work all day today.”

“Yes, but every writer has her process. You know me…I can’t stay in one place too long. Unless,” Heather adds, shaking her curls, “my wife is in that place.”

Bill chuckles, tilting her chair back to look Heather in the face. “Kiss?”

“Always,” Heather says, and bends down. Their lips brush for a moment, greeting and affirmation in one.

Heather puts an arm under Bill’s chair and tilts her back up, then slides around her to touch the teacup. Steam rises from her fingertips, and she hands the cup to Bill with an arched eyebrow.

“Never will get used to that,” Bill remarks, but she sips the tea all the same. “Thanks, Heather.”

Heather nods, a smile on her face. “How do you feel now the papers are graded? You alive again?”

“Ugh,” Bill groans. “Half of these students didn’t listen to a single word I said all semester. It’s a wonder the Doctor survived teaching for as long as he did, it’s only been five years and I’m despairing of the human race.” She pauses for a moment, breathes through the pain, lets it pass. It’s been nearly twenty years since she laid the Doctor to rest, a dull ache in the place-where-her-heart-was all that remains of the brilliant years she spent burning through the galaxies.

For a moment the echo of nights spent screaming at half-remembered pain resonates between the two; then Heather meets Bill’s eyes and suddenly all that exists between them is belief and a promise made by two besotted college students thirty years and a thousand lifetimes ago.

Bill finds that she can’t speak, and looks down at her lap suddenly. When she looks up, the gravity is fading from Heather’s face.

“Well, it’s over now,” Bill’s wonderful wife says. “Let’s go out for coffee.”

———

They only cheat a little bit on the way to the shops. Bill’s pushing fifty, at least she thinks so, and her legs ache more than they used to. But the day is beautiful, and Heather for once seems content to take the slow path.

They arrive at Clara’s in a warm, hazy glow, Bill’s fears and long-remembered pains melting away at the sight of sun and the smell of coffee. They order their usual and sit in the corner, drinking it in.

“I almost forgot—how’s things going at the paper today?” Bill asks.

“Oh, wonderful!” Heather responds, sudden animation in her voice. “I’ve been assigned to cover this new animal rescue that’s opened just a few miles down. They take in abused cats—you know what a big problem we have with abandoned kittens in this area—and…”

Bill nods along, sipping her coffee and staring in perfect contentment at Heather. Her passion is magnetic.

Suddenly, a bang rocks the cafe. Dust showers from the ceiling, and screams start, faint but all too there. Bill and Heather exchange glances.

In the sudden rush, nobody notices a small flurry in the corner of a coffee shop, or the two cups left behind.

————

They materialize into chaos.

Dust covers every surface of the street. The source is easily seen: a large metal capsule—spaceship?—has created a crater in the pavement. A house nearby has partially collapsed, a billow of smoke still emerging from the chimney.

Just to the left of the spaceship (Bill knows one when she sees one) a small blonde woman is having a right strop.

“Idiot! You utter fool, do you know how much damage you could have done? Taking this little—little—Moped into Earth’s atmosphere? What are you, five hundred? Ugh—“ her voice drops into something very guttural and snarly and not at all attractive, Bill’s married thanks very much. Must be an alien language.

Heather and Bill exchange glances. “She’s too young for me, she’s too young for me, she’s too young for me…” Bill mutters, cheekily. Heather elbows her in the side.

“Pay attention, Bill.”

The alien the woman was yelling at with such verve—3 meters tall at a guess—is slowly shrinking under the onslaught of her fury. Its tentacles (eyestalks?) droop until they nearly touch its knees.

“—and don’t come near these parts again, yeah?” the woman huffs.

A sulky nod. “May I…”

“Ugh, fine. Think twice next time.” The woman slaps a small silver device into the alien’s hand, and suddenly there’s no spaceship and no tall blue personality, just a crater and a person with rather eccentric clothes.

The person claps her hands, spins. “Right then, you lot. Sorry about that, Atraxids mean well but they just can’t be trusted with anything faster than a hovercar. Repair crew should be on its way, I think I called a repair crew and not the Shadow Proclamation, so easy to misdial. Not to worry though! This street will be fixed up right as rain, or maybe righter than rain, who decided rain was right anyhow, in no time and you’ll all forget any of this happened and go on with your brilliant little—“ her eyes meet Bill’s in their wanderings, catch and hold and tear—

“…lives,” the woman finishes, sunshine gone from her face. “Anyway, things to do, people to see—one person specifically to tell you the truth, not that you all aren’t interesting—catch you later!”

She spins again and starts to walk towards them.

Towards Bill.

Bill has a moment of panic, then reaches out and _twists_ —

the world reshapes—

And she and Heather are sitting at their table in their cosy little flat and Bill is shivering.

“What did she want, Heather what did she want, I’m so over people recognizing me—“

Missy’s face flashes in her eyes and she almost doubles over, retching. There’s a pain in her chest and a coldness in her limbs and her voice is high too high and she wants to breathe but she can’t _breathe, why can’t she breathe_

Heather.

Arm around her shoulders. One age-spotted hand on hers.

Sweet breath on her face and she realizes suddenly that she can breathe, just way too fast—

A low murmur, nothing mechanical at all. “Bill, I love you. Come back to me.”

Bill breathes…

Heather smiles…

The suit is gone.

Bill doesn’t apologize, Heather never lets her. She just leans in to Heather’s shoulder and breathes deep.

“What did I do to deserve you?” She murmurs.

Heather’s mouth is pressed to her hair. “You listened.”

A moment, and there’s a knock at the door. Heather gently disentangles her arm from Bill’s shoulder. “Want me to get that?”

Bill looks at her. There’s steel in Heather’s face, behind the warmth. “Together.”

Heather nods. They get up as one and Heather opens the door. Her face freezes.

It’s the woman.

“Go away,” Heather snarls.

The person raises her hands, placating. “Please, I’m really sorry, I didn’t think, but—Bill? Bill Potts?”

Bill gathers space around her, but hesitates. Something in the eyes, the voice—

“That’s me.”

“Bill—“ and there are tears in the woman’s voice now— “Bill Potts, you brilliant, wonderful, incredible, impossible human.”

And the voice isn’t Scottish and the hair isn’t white and Bill is looking down instead of up but she’d know the wonder in that voice anywhere—

“Doctor?”

She takes a step forward, unstable. Another step. One more and the Doctor is close enough to touch.

Her hands are shaking and her voice wavers but her eyes are clear.

“Bill Potts.”

The Doctor still feels like safety.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed!  
> You can also find me on [tumblr](https://actual-bill-potts.tumblr.com).


End file.
